Find Unused or Backup Tables (2024-03-18)

SQLServerCentral Newsletter for March 18, 2024 Problems displaying this newsletter? [View online](. [SQL Server Central]( Featured Contents - [Find Unused or Backup Tables]( - [Correct SQL Server Transactional Replication Issues with T-SQL and SSMS]( - [From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Introduction to OpenAI and LLMs]( - [From the SQL Server Central Blogs - DataTune Nashville 2024 Recap]( - [SQL Server 2022 Query Performance Tuning: Troubleshoot and Optimize Query Performance]( Question of the Day - [SQL Express Agent]( The Voice of the DBA  Protecting Off Hours [Legislation was introduced in Australia]( to allow employees to protect themselves from unreasonable calls and emails from work during off-hours. You can read more about it, but a bill was passed to allow employees to ignore calls and messages without repercussion It is expected to pass, though I don't expect this to do a lot for bad bosses. They'll find ways to hint or imply that you need to respond, or even remove your chances of advancement/promotion/raises. While you can sue, that rarely works out well for anyone. From the various reports I've seen, I'm not sure if this includes salaried workers or just hourly workers. I certainly think hourly workers ought to be paid if they're called after hours. I've even been paid as a salaried worker if the calls outside of core hours exceeded a certain amount per week. That seemed fair to me, and in our team, there was always someone willing to work more for extra money, so I could trade on-call work if I didn't want to do it. As a side note, my second time on call (for a week), I got paged over 40 times. It was a nice paycheck, but not worth it. I had toddlers in the house, and I slept with a vibrating pager on my chest to not wake my wife. It was not a good week and I traded away my on-call weeks to others, sometimes even sweetening the deal by buying them lunch. There are a lot of people working in technology who don't like the job and don't recommend a career in this business precisely because they are overworked. The US has a very poor work-life balance in general, and many people feel pressured to work lots of extra hours. My colleagues and friends overseas do lots of work, and seem just as productive, but don't arrive early, leave late, or work weekends very often. Sometimes they do, but not often. In the US, many people work more than 40 hours regularly, with a commute, and think this is normal. There are times when extra work might be needed. However, with plenty of us working from home after the pandemic, it's important to strike a balance of some sort and learn to get away from work. I've worked hard to reduce my hours from a regular 60 while owning and running SQL Server Central to something more reasonable now. I certainly have weeks I work more than 40, but I have weeks I work less. Balancing the workload in a day is something else I watch. I try hard to not set meetings or work too early or late, but the nature of my job means I work with people in the US, the EU, and Australia. As I write this, I started work at 8 am this morning with a meeting and I have an 8-9 pm webinar for the Australian region. However, I went to the gym at lunch and coached kids for a few hours in the late afternoon. I found a balance and while I might have worked 9 hours today, I don't often do that. I will take 6 am calls, but not regularly. There is something satisfying about working hard to earn your paycheck each day. It gives one purpose and satisfaction for a job well done. At the same time, it's important to get away from work, enjoy your family, friends, hobbies, faith, and more. In technology, where regular hours aren't always part of the job, you must manage your life well. I don't know that legislation would help in the US, but I am interested to see how this proceeds in Australia. Steve Jones - SSC Editor [Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums](   Featured Contents [SQLServerCentral Article]( [Find Unused or Backup Tables]( nirali_shastri89 from SQLServerCentral If you rename old or backup tables, learn how to find easily find and drop them. [External Article]( [Correct SQL Server Transactional Replication Issues with T-SQL and SSMS]( Additional Articles from MSSQLTips.com Learn how to address SQL Server transactional replication issues with these easy-to-follow steps using T-SQL and SSMS to troubleshoot and fix issues. [Blog Post]( From the SQL Server Central Blogs - [Introduction to OpenAI and LLMs]( James Serra from James Serra's Blog I focus most of my blog posts on the data platform and how companies can make better business decisions using structured data (think SQL tables), but I’m seeing more... [Blog Post]( From the SQL Server Central Blogs - [DataTune Nashville 2024 Recap]( DataOnWheels from DataOnWheels DataTune 2024 was a huge success! Thank you so much to the organizers who spent countless months planning and making this an incredible conference! It was so great to... [SQL Server 2022 Query Performance Tuning]( [SQL Server 2022 Query Performance Tuning: Troubleshoot and Optimize Query Performance]( Additional Articles from SQLServerCentral Troubleshoot slow-performing queries and make them run faster. Database administrators and SQL developers are constantly under pressure to provide more speed. This new edition has been redesigned and rewritten from scratch based on the last 15 years of learning, knowledge, and experience accumulated by the author. The book Includes expanded information on using extended events, automatic execution plan correction, and other advanced features now available in SQL Server.   Question of the Day Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):  SQL Express Agent How can I run SQL Agent with SQL Server Express 2022? Think you know the answer? [Click here]( and find out if you are right.    Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor) Cloning MSDB Can I execute this code in SQL Server 2022? dbcc clonedatabase(msdb, msdb_clone) Answer: No Explanation: System databases cannot be cloned. Ref: DBCC CLONEDATABASE - [ [Discuss this question and answer on the forums](    Database Pros Who Need Your Help Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, [visit the forums](. --------------------------------------------------------------- SQL Server 2016 - Administration [Failover Clustered Instance (FCI) how to unconfigure from cluster to standalone]( - Hi All, We have 2 x physical servers with windows server installed connected to a SAN via iSCSI. We then have Failover Clustered Instance (FCI) setup across the 2 physical servers for 2 x SQL Instances with Failover cluster manager as detailed on this link: The server hardware is old and the idea is […] SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL [Query performance analysis]( - All, I'm looking at a particular issue and I'm not sure if my understanding or my approach are correct. Performance analysis is an area I'm trying to learn more about. My reason for posting is as much to improve my knowledge of how to deal with these type of issues as solving this particular issue. […] SQL Server 2019 - Administration [Database Ownership - Does it Matter ?]( - From a practical standpoint, does it matter who is shown as the owner of a database ? What if it's a network user, and their account is deleted when they leave the company? [SSRS 2019 Migration]( - Hello everyone, i have been trying to migrate SSRS 2012 to 2019 using powershell script which i found here [ microsoft/ReportingServicesTools: Reporting Services Powershell Tools (github.com) ] Unfortunately the samples mentioned in the script is not helping as well. Pls find the options i have tried with it & their respective exception Can anyone pls help […] SQL Server 2019 - Development [nested subqueries vs separate queries performance difference]( - Hi everyone I am looking at improving the performance of my queries. There is an approach I am considering but I don't know if it will actually improve things or not. I won't know until I try (which I will) but I am interested in getting some feedback from the community. Query 1 select * […] [Query wont use any index - Cannot understand why]( - Hello, I am new to the forum. I am using MSSQL at work. Quick information what we do, later what is the problem. Basically we are moving SAP systems(tables are moved) to MSSQL server. I have few very big tables, and WHERE clause, which for some reason does not use any of the indexes I […] [temp table level of precision]( - Hi everyone I have been working on improving the run time for a query. The query does math calculations so it is producing integers (for some parts) but decimals for most. version 1 - uses physical tables to store temp results version 2 - using #temp table to store temp results I was looking at […] Reporting Services [Using Parameter and Booksmarks together?]( - Hello, I have a SSRS 2016 Report with multiple tables on every pages. User should select a particular table and jump to the page of this table. Is it possible to do? I did not find any way to do it. Try: I create a textbox with a Action to Bookmark and the expression of […] Integration Services [SSIS not reading in data for February]( - Please test. Im not getting any data for February, but it is available. [Run Time Error - at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod]( - I am getting an error when running an SSIS ETL, converting aN Excel to CSV. Please assist. at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor) at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments) at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) at System.RuntimeType.InvokeMember(String name, BindingFlags bindingFlags, Binder binder, Object target, Object[] providedArgs, […] [Run Time Error - at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod]( - I am getting an error when running an SSIS ETL, converting aN Excel to CSV. Please assist. at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor) at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments) at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) at System.RuntimeType.InvokeMember(String name, BindingFlags bindingFlags, Binder binder, Object target, Object[] providedArgs, […] [Unpivot in SSIS]( - I want to Unpivot some data. Please guide me in selecting the correct columns etc. My table is: My Source display:  What I see in my Unpivot View: Error I am getting: TITLE: Package Validation Error ------------------------------ Package Validation Error ------------------------------ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Error at DATA FLOW FROM CSV TO IMETA DATABASE FOR CONSUMPTION […] SQL Server 2022 - Administration [SQL Server extension service]( - I see in some of my recently upgraded servers SQL 2022, in configuration manager, I see an additional service called MS SQL Server extension service, what is that, and why it shows in some of my servers, others not? What install option that installs it? Thanks SQL Server 2022 - Development [very slow performance using WHERE on Oracle linked server]( - I have a linked server pointing to an Oracle instance using OraOLEDB.Oracle. The table contains about 40K rows. My issue is that while I can get fine performance doing a SELECT or DELETE with no WHERE clause, the moment I add a WHERE it is just horrible. Even selecting a single row takes 20+ minutes. […] [Grouping Count]( - Hi All, I have domain in Column A. Here I need to count how many domain and need them to flag 1, 2, 3 and so on till maximum. How could I do them in SQL Server. Please find the attachment excel file for reference. Thanks   [RSS Feed]( This email has been sent to {EMAIL}. To be removed from this list, please click [here](. If you have any problems leaving the list, please contact the webmaster@sqlservercentral.com. This newsletter was sent to you because you signed up at SQLServerCentral.com. ©2019 Redgate Software Ltd, Newnham House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, United Kingdom. All rights reserved. webmaster@sqlservercentral.com  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -